Amazon workers to begin 3-day strikes in Germany

MonicaHouston-Waesch

Hundreds of German workers at two of Amazon.com Inc.'s
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German sites are walking off the job for three days from Thursday, the latest in a series of strikes aimed at pressuring the online retailer to resolve a wage dispute, German labor union ver.di said.

Two of Amazon's eight German locations--Bad Hersfeld and Leipzig--will be affected. Union representatives didn't rule out additional strikes, after repeated labor action since May. The union is demanding higher pay and other benefits, including paid vacation and extra overtime pay, common perks in many German wage agreements.

"Amazon can count on further strikes, and that will especially hurt Christmas season business," Joerg Lauenroth-Mago, a union representative in Leipzig said.

The union also said it is planning demonstrations in both Bad Hersfeld and Leipzig on Friday.

The majority of workers at the sites showed up for work early Thursday, while less than 420 employees failed to appear, Amazon spokesman Stefan Rupp told The Wall Street Journal.

"Amazon did not see any impact on customer shipments," he said.

Mr. Rupp said the company wages are at the upper end of the pay scale compared with other logistics companies, and Amazon also offers bonuses and more pension provisions than offered in collective wage agreements.

"Therefore we see no benefit in a tariff agreement for customers or associates," he said in an email.

In the past, Amazon has said its German wage policies are fair and that the strikes this year, the first in its 15-year history here, have so far had little impact on business. The online retailer, which employs about 9,000 people in Germany, generated $8.7 billion of its $61 billion in global revenue last year in the country, making it Amazon's second-largest market after the U.S.

The dispute reflects the inherent tension between Amazon's aggressive pricing strategy and the realities of doing business in much of Europe, where a combination of union influence and strong labor protections give companies far less flexibility than they enjoy in the U.S.

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